24.

Spending time with her dad gave Avery an idea. It was an obvious idea but one she hadn't considered. When she got back to the house that afternoon, Mark and Leah were both still sleeping. She thought a herd of elephants could have gone through the house and they might not have known it.

She went digging. Mark had brought over a few boxes. All of the files they had collected about what was going on around town. Avery looked thoughtfully at the ceiling and figured she'd better not just take the boxes and go. She went up the stairs to her room, where Mark was sleeping right in the center of the bed, on his stomach. He'd stripped naked before getting into bed. She admired the view for just a moment before sitting down on the bed next to him.

He stirred and blinked one eye open. Before he'd passed out, Mark had drawn the shade and curtain, making the room as dark as it would get. She could tell the light still stung his eyes. "Somethin' wrong?"

"Nope. Well. No wronger than it already is. I wanted to ask you something."

"Hmm?" He was already drifting back to sleep.

"I want to send copies of your files to Jack."

"Mmm." Again, it was just a noise.

"I can't tell if that's a 'hell no' or a 'great idea Avery'." She said, smiling a little.

"I'm sleepin'..." He managed to form words that time.

"I know." Avery reached out and let her fingers slide down his shoulder, his back. His skin was warm against her fingertips, Soft. No tension at all in the muscles. She hated to bug him but some things wouldn't wait. "I can take them to the school. Make copies. Run them out to Jack's. He's a lawyer. He can sift through and see if we have something."

Mark groaned and shifted, turning toward her. "Now?"

"Soon would be good."

He peered at her alarm clock and his eyes finally opened all the way. "Hell. You let me sleep all day."

"You needed it. And I didn't let you. You just did." Her fingers went up and down his arm. "I tried to go visit Williams."

Mark frowned. "You did what?"

"I figured somebody had to." Avery stopped him from commenting. "He wasn't there. Place is pretty deserted."

Mark pushed himself up onto his elbow. "What do you mean, he wasn't there?"

"Not there. Gone. If he was ever there at all." Avery shrugged. "They could have taken him to the regional place. It's only like thirty minutes away."

"Not acording to the reports. They said he was being treated here." Mark pushed a hand through his disheveled hair, moving it back from his face.

"They obviously lied."

"Leah didn't go back out did she?" Mark asked, still trying to get his brain to kick in.

"She's sleeping. I checked. Now about those files of yours..."

"Yeah. You wanna take them to some lawyer."

"My ex."

"Why?" Mark looked confused by that. Avery smirked.

"Because he's an outside. Really. And a lawyer. And he'll know what to do with the stuff. Plus...he golfs with the state attorney general."

"Of course. A lawyer with connections." Mark rolled his eyes. "He's not a defense attorney is he?"

"Nope. He's a litigator. Lots of arguing fine details."

He seemed to think that over. "I don't want to drag him into this. I have a friend I can send copies to. He's one of our assistant district attornies. That's who I was going to send it to anyway once we figured out what we were doing."

"What you're doing is fact collecting. You can't act on it. You're way outside your jurisdiction." Avery pointed out. "And since the local cops are out..." She shrugged. "Jack knows some of the higher up state cops too. His dad was a judge."

"Avery I didn't even want to get you involved in this."

"Too late for that." Avery let her eyes wander down his body. "I'm already neck deep." She reached out and slid her fingers down his chest. She couldn't seem to help but touch him.

"I thought you were in some godawful hurry to do something with my files?" He made it a question. He'd caught the direction of her thoughts. Avery smiled at that.

"The sooner the better. I don't like having all of that here. What if somebody steals it? Or burns down the house to get rid of it? Because apparenty stuff like that is prone to happening. And you need to go get whatever stuff you have at the motel. You're staying here."

"I am?"

"You both are. Leah was all right with it." Avery shook her head. "I can clean out the guest room. It just needs a dusting and clean sheets on the bed. Leah can stay in there or Emily's room. She won't be back for a few weeks."

"Avery..."

"She said the motel was giving her a bad vibe. Which is why she was tooling around town all night." She ignored when he tried to interrupt her.

"My leave only covers me until Sunday. The reunion is Saturday night."

Avery felt as if she'd been punched. "And?"

"And we have to get this shit done before that happens. We're working on a deadline."

She nodded slowly. She hadn't even considered the thought that he'd be leaving soon. Hell, he'd said himself that he was on there for a few weeks. It shocked her, how fast that time had gone.

That meant they really only had a matter of days. "Then I really do need to give copies to Jack now, don't I?" Avery shot that back at him. She was angry. She shifted and got up off the bed before he could stop her.

"Avery...wait..."

"We don't have time to wait, remember?" Avery looked back at him. He'd slid to the side of the bed. She didn't wait for him. She turned and headed for the stairs. She didn't even know why she was mad. She had known he'd be leaving. She just hadn't given any thought that it would be so damned soon.

She grabbed the phone and went out to the porch to call Jack. He answered on the first ring. Avery debated for all of 10 seconds before deciding to be honest with him. She told him everything.

"Jesus, Av..." When she finally wound down, Jack was left nearly speechless. That hadn't happened since the night she'd told him she was pregnant with Emily. It almost made her laugh.

"I know it's a lot and it's crazy but...I've believed Mark from the beginning. And stuff is happening here that makes me believe it more than ever."

"Send me copies. Of everything." His voice had taken on a familiar note. Avery had often called it his lawyer tone. Jack was serious most of the time, but serious did not even begin to describe his courtroom style. "I want written statements from all three of you. I want dates and times, witnesses. Can you get it to me tonight?"

"Probably." Avery said, feeling better. "I can take the files to school to copy. I don't trust sending them through the mail. There's a lot of stuff. I might drive them up myself."

"Make your copies today. But don't drive up here tonight." Jack cautioned. "It would probably be better to keep the copies somewhere else. And bring them in the morning."

"Why not tonight?" It was late afternoon. Jack was only an hour away. Avery didn't like the thought of waiting.

"Because you said that things don't happen to people in town. I prefer you don't try leaving or entering in the dark if it's possible."

Once Jack said it, Avery knew it made perfect sense. It would be the kind of opportunity the sheriff might not let pass. One of those many, many vehicular collisions that seemed to happen for no reason on perfectly clear and straight roadways, the town mourns, Emily moved in with her father. Avery saw it all clearly in her mind's eye. And hated that he was right. She needed to exercise the caution that she had kept telling Mark to keep in mind.

"Fine. I'll email you my statement. That'll be a start. I want you to have that just in case..." She trailed off, not able to finish.

"I can send a couple of state cops down tonight." Jack heard the worry in her vocie. "I know Vic Jones. He's the commander at the state outpost. He'll listen."

Avery was tempted. Very tempted. She thought of Mark and Leah and how they had run themselves ragged, and gave in. "Could you? I would feel better if there were more outsiders here. Outside law enforcement."

"You got it. Now get me that statement. And Av? Be careful."

"I will. Tell Em I love her." They hung up and Avery was left tapping the phone against her hand for a few moments. With a sigh she went back into the house. She wanted to get her statement down and force Mark to writing his own. If something happened to either of them, there had to be a record.

She found him in the kitchen. He turned when she entered the room. He'd taken the time to drag a comb through his hair and had it tied back from his facein a low ponytail. And he'd put on his jeans but no shirt. Lord help her, even if she was half mad at him, he was still sexy as all get out. Life was going to be so boring when he went back to his life in Houston. Ignoring how much that thought hurt, Avery leaned a hip against the counter.

"Who were you talking to?" Mark asked, curious.

"Jack. Weighing some options." She tossed the phone onto the counter. "We need to email him our statements about what's happening here. And go to the school to make copies of everything. I'm going to drive them up in the morning. And he's going to get a couple of state cops down here." She held up a hand before Mark could talk. "We're just making this official. With outside police, Walls will have to be on his best behavior. And I'll feel better about sleeping at night."

Mark nodded slowly. But he looked hurt. Like she had wounded him somehow. "If that's what it takes to make you feel safe."

"It's not a knock against you. As you so helpfully pointed out, after Sunday I'm on my own. Pardon me for wanting to be prepared for the fucking worst." With that she pushed away from the counter and went to the stairs. Leah was at the top, yawning but looking more awake than she had that morning. Good. It meant she wouldn't have to wake the woman up to get to the computer in Emily's room.

Leah's presence stopped Mark from following her. She could hear them talking but coulnd't make out words. She didn't care. She fired up the computer and opened her email, wondering for a moment just where exactly to start.